Why set up your business in the Occitanie region in the south of France?
Set up your business in the south of France
The Occitanie region is home to two of France's major cities: Montpellier and Toulouse.
This region has an exceptional location and is extremely well-connected thanks to the 8 motorways that pass through it:
- A64, A66, A61, A68 and A20 in Toulouse
- A75, A9, A709 in Montpellier
The Occitanie region also has the advantage of being close to both Spain and Italy, and is also very well connected all around the Mediterranean coast in only 3 hours: Nîmes - Toulouse, Montpellier - Marseille, Millau - Perpignan, Nîmes - Nice, etc.
Many other advantages make the Occitanie region one of the most dynamic regions in France:
- It is the second largest French region, vaster than Ireland, and is one of the top 5 most densely populated regions
- An exceptional location in southern Europe, allowing you to reach all European markets
- Multimodal transport infrastructures: 9 airports (3 international airports); 8 motorways; 2 high-speed train stations; 3 sea ports, 5 fishing ports and 3 river ports; 1 dry port, inland terminal of Barcelona authority
- Presence of competitive hubs in sectors as industry, research and training in order to innovate and create employment
- Its natural diversity and attractiveness contribute to the development of all economic branches: industry, agriculture, manufacturing, tourism, research or costal economy
- Occitanie has several ideal locations to set up and develop your company in the south of France, including the main cities Toulouse and Montpellier, but also many other more industrial zones.
Where to set up your company in the south of France?
The Occitanie region has highly varied industrial fabric. You will find a large panel of qualified skills and a diversified and multi-sector economy in this southern French region.
There are plenty of business parks, like Occitanie Zone Économique (OZE), where you can set up your industrial, logistics or services company.
Opportunities to set up your business in Occitanie, south of France
The Occitanie region has lots of property offers available in the south of France, in the Gard, Hautes-Pyrénées and Gers departments among others: industrial lands, mixed-use premises, warehouses, laboratories, food-processing buildings, etc.
Find our property opportunities and lands available in the south of France, in the Occitanie region.
Enterprises based in Occitanie, south of France
Many international and well-known companies are set up in Occitanie:
- Orchestra, a European leader in children's fashion and pediatrics, is active all over the region
- Sakata Vegetables Europe, from the Japanese Sakata Seed Corporation, is one of the worldwide leaders in vegetable and flower seeds (in Gard)
- The parfumier Esteban, from the Japanese Nippon Kodo, specialised in home fragrances, has invested 6 million euros for its new headquarter and factory in Lavérune, Hérault
- Leading IT companies: IBM Global Services, DELL southern Europe, Capgemini, Intel, etc.
- Leading food-processing companies: Andros, Bigard, Cemoi, Danone, Haribo, Lactalis, Nestlé Waters. The French company Saint-Mamet is specialised in fruit transformation in Vauvert, Gard.
- Leading energy and environment companies: BRL Ingénierie, Veolia Eau, Egis EAU, Biotope, Geoter et Geoïd (Fugro), Foraco, Schlumberger
In addition, there are many SMEs and start-ups that are set up in the region of Occitanie:
- The start-up Medtech (in Montpellier) has become Zimmer Biomet's R&D center for robotics
- The start-up Bime analytics (in Montpellier) has become the crown jewel in the city's tech ecosystem. Six years after its creation, this start-up specialised in business intelligence with access to the cloud was purchased for 45 million dollars by the american company Zendesk
- The start-up Ziwit has developped a programme which is able to spot computer flaws in order to protect enterprises websites from the Cac 40, Google, Adobe, the Defense and Justice ministries and the NSA
